THE Maritime Union of Australia has staged a rally in Melbourne against CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), saying their actions legitimise research from vested interests and promote ocean dumping.
The protest, held in Parkville earlier this week, was organised by the MUA member-led Future Jobs Now Committee.
Speakers criticised CSIRO and AIMS for what they said amounted to collaborating with the oil and gas lobby via the National Decommissioning Research Initiative (NDRI).
AIMS has denied any wrongdoing, however, stating that its decommissioning studies are “detailed, complex, and rigorous” and they were “not beholden to vested interests”.
According to the union, the National Decommissioning Research Initiative’s new framework treats in situ decommissioning —abandoning steel and contaminated infrastructure on the seabed—as an acceptable environmental option, “equal or better than full removal”.
“CSIRO and AIMS are using the credibility of public science to serve private interests,” said Robert Lumsden, MUA Victorian branch secretary.
“They’re helping industry rebrand ocean dumping as environmental management. That’s not science— that’s spin.”
The union says these frameworks deny Victoria the chance to build a domestic dismantling and recycling industry.
“Victoria has an electric arc furnace at Laverton that needs scrap steel — exactly what’s being left to rust offshore,” said MUA Victoria assistant branch secretary Aarin Moon.
“Instead of dumping this material in the ocean, it could power the next generation of clean industry and secure local jobs.”
The MUA says it is also standing in solidarity with CSIRO workers, arguing hundreds of whom face redundancy due to insufficient federal budget allocations.
The union has called for
“The research agenda isn’t neutral — it’s funded and governed by the same corporations that stand to profit from avoiding removal,” Mr Lumsden said.
“That’s not independence, it’s buying an outcome.”
A spokesperson for AIMS said they were engaged in public good decommissioning research and that government, industry, coastal communities and the public used and benefitted from this knowledge.
“AIMS science is independent, objective, and impartial and supports the sustainable use and protection of our oceans,” the spokesperson said.
“Decommissioning studies carried out by AIMS are detailed, complex, and rigorous. We are not beholden to vested interests, we have no agenda, our science is about the facts.”
The spokesperson said AIMS science did not advocate for any particular decommissioning outcome.
“We work with regulators and industry – as is required by our Act – to understand the impacts of structures in our oceans and their removal, so that decision makers have the necessary information,” the spokesperson said.
“Previously AIMS have undertaken projects with the National Decommissioning Research Initiative (NDRI) looking at habitat value, connectivity and contaminant risk.
“This research is rigorous and freely available on the NDRI’s website and in scientific publications.”